SURINACH Piano Concerto. Concertino for Piano, Strings, and Cymbals. Double Concertino1 • Daniel Blanch (pn); Jacek Kaspszyk, cond; Kalina Macuta (vn);1 Snf Varsovia • COLUMNA MÚSICA 167 (59:51)

Young Spanish pianist Daniel Blanch makes a second foray into Alicia de Larrocha territory with this release. Following his excellent recording of concertos by Montsalvatge and Nin-Culmell, made in Cuba, he has headed to Poland to record these three concertante pieces by Carlos Surinach.

Born in 1915 in Barcelona, Surinach wrote strongly nationalistic music. His work was inspired by the essence of Spanish dance: its vigor, rhythms, and pulse, as well as the modal harmonies and showy scale passages of flamenco. Other influences may be heard (such as Stravinsky and Falla’s neo-Classicism), but they never blunt the physical edge of Surinach’s style. No wonder he worked with dancers and ballet companies, not only in the field of composition but also in “conduction,” as the quirkily translated booklet note has it. (That is, he was a conductor.) Surinach spent most of his life in the U.S.; he eventually became an American citizen and died in New Haven in 1997.

It is in the Piano Concertino of 1956 that Surinach’s influences are heard at their most basic. Much of the piano-writing consists of double octaves, unison scales, or passages of elaborate two-part invention (notably most of the first movement). The work requires a nimble-fingered pianist to handle all this with clarity, and unquestionably finds one in Blanch. The cymbals mentioned in the title are not only orchestral crash cymbals, but also tuned cymbals of the high-pitched, pingy variety; they are very clearly heard in this recording.

The latest work, the Piano Concerto of 1973, is similar in its dance-influenced rhythmic snap and three-movement form, impressing as an attention-grabbing virtuoso vehicle, especially in its frenetic finale, Vivace con fuoco. The composer has utilized his full orchestral skill throughout (familiar from his completion of the orchestral version of Albéniz’s Iberia). The spare Doppio Concertino of 1954, on the other hand, is not far removed from chamber music. Its colors are pared back to bare essentials: witness the intriguing second movement assembled around a rhythmic one-note cell. The note in question is F an octave above middle C and is played on trumpet, often doubled two octaves above by piccolo. Shades of Revueltas! The earliest work here, this one strikes me as more varied and subtle than the other concertos, highly enjoyable though they are.

All three have been recorded before in fine performances. Alicia de Larrocha’s rendition of the Piano Concerto is a tour de force (recently reissued on Eloquence). Larrocha maintains a more urgent level of energy than Blanch, but I like how the latter and conductor Kaspszyk give the first movement room to breathe: the music gains something of the noble side of the Spanish character as a result.

The same kind of comparison exists in the Concertino, played with tremendous verve on a 1989 Elan CD by Santiago Rodriguez, with the Richmond Sinfonia conducted by George Manahan. Rodriguez is a wonderful pianist (what has happened to him?), and his performance is gutsy and brilliant. Pablo Zinger conducts the Bronx Arts Ensemble and plays the piano solo in a New World recording of the Doppio Concertino, coupled with more of the composer’s chamber output. Interestingly, the violin soloists in both recordings of this piece display minor intonation problems, mainly in exposed scale passages and high harmonics.

Blanch and Kaspszyk are by no means outclassed by the excellent competition; in fact I prefer the new disc overall. Surinach’s music is sometimes accused of being relentless, but that charge cannot be levelled at these beautifully balanced and warmly recorded performances. Blanch forgoes some measure of knife-edge attack to introduce more light and shade, to the music’s advantage. The Sinfonia Varsovia (remembered for their recordings of Beethoven and Schubert with Menuhin) cannot be faulted. A distinguished release in every way.

FANFARE: Phillip Scott